


Medicate Me All Night Long

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: AU where they bring all the bugsters back after Chronicle because sure why not, Established Relationship, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 03:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Turns out Bugsters can still get sick, and Kiriya finds out the hard (weird?) way. Fortunately, he has a "doctor" with a treatment plan that might just do the trick.





	Medicate Me All Night Long

**Author's Note:**

> Title is lyrics from We Own the Night by Dance Gavin Dance

Kiriya blinks awake to the sound of whispered cursing. It wasn't the sound that woke him up, but it's definitely keeping him awake now. He shifts, still bleary and head fuzzy from a dull headache, wondering why his futon felt so hard and uncomfortable when it hits him. He's in the quarantine bed. The soft streak of light from the observation window across the ceiling and slight nausea he feels confirms it.

It turns out, bugsters could still get sick, and stress aggravated it, just like a human. And he just had to find out the hard way. After pulling two weeks of all-nighters, he suddenly found himself waking up. Head pounding and stomach cramping, half in a puddle of clear liquid filled with faintly glowing cubes, almost like pixels in real life. He was making notes in his head, trying to make sure he wrote this down for his papers on bugster virus when he could move again. Before he could get any of that done, Nico barged into the Genm basement they repurposed as their office. He hazily made out her gasping as she took in the (literally) technicolor puke he was laying in before she was calling Taiga to help move him to CR.

After some extensive testing and multiple cases of roughhousing the patient, because he kept trying to get up and assure everyone he was fine, the team managed to figure out Kiriya's code was attempting a system reset. There were trace elements of Gamedeus' virus still kicking around in his code. Apparently it never cleared out properly because he never rested, even after Chronicle was over and done. Emu shot him a bunch of disapproving looks after that revelation. They hypothesized it was forcing him to shut down by emulating common diseases like the flu to make him rest. But instead of one at a time, it was manifesting every possible sickness at once. It made him so weak he couldn't even teleport away when Taiga tackled him back into the quarantine bed during his fifth escape attempt, slamming both their heads into the monitor.

And that's how he ended up here. Just waiting for this to be over, fingers itching to get back to work. How could he rest when there was so much to fix? He tried to reassure himself that Poppy at the very least was going to be efficient about note taking on what was happening with him. She wasn't kidding about taking her nurse training more seriously now that the crisis was over; and had been a huge help in compiling data for his research on the virus. Honestly, she'd make a great doctor.

A loud creaking noise drew his attention back to the moment, and he slowly turns to the left to see Graphite trying to wheel the desk chair over as quietly as possible. He freezes when he notices Kiriya's eyes on him.

"Did I wake you?" he stage whispers from halfway across the room.

Kiriya tries to respond but a rough noise tears from his throat instead. He coughs a little and holds his fingers up in a pinching motion instead.

Graphite rolls the chair over the rest of the way, sitting down and folding his arms over the bulky bed frame and leaning in to get closer to Kiriya's eye level. He attempts to turn over and face him, but Graphite roughly pushes him onto his back again.

"Rest up. You need it after being stupid. Can't believe you exposed yourself to Gamedeus' virus."

Kiriya shut his eyes tight against the faint waves of nausea building up in his stomach and throat from the rough motion. It took him a few times, but he managed to croak out a response.

"Excuse me? This is literally the same thing you did." He weakly bats at Graphite's arm.

Graphite rolls his eyes and flicks his arm away, letting the hand come down to rest on the bed frame. He places his hand over Kiriya's, using the other one to rest his cheek.

They sit for a few beats of silence as Kiriya feels bile in the back of his throat for a reason completely unrelated to his self-imposed sickness.

"I should've been there for you like this."

Graphite snorts. "I wasn't this bad, so I didn't need it." He squeezes Kiriya's hand gently. "You had other things to do anyway. If you'd taken a break to look after me, the vaccines might not've been made. And where would any of us be then?" He leans forward so he's resting his head on his arms. "These idiots need you more than you think."

Kiriya glances up at the low light in the window. He turns his hand over to hold Graphite's properly and rubs his thumb over the back in slow circles. "Even this idiot?" He smirks.

"Shut it." Graphite smirks back, poking the middle of Kiriya's forehead hard with one of his sharp, pointed nails, making his face scrunch up playfully.

He fake pouts as Graphite continues. "And actually no." Kiriya tries not to let his face fall too much, but it's hard with how sick he is. He opts for pressing his lips together, trying to keep his eyes neutral. Graphite grips his hand tighter. "I don't need you, but I do _want_ to keep you around. And I'll be really pissed off if you keep doing shit like this to yourself. So, stop it."

It takes a second for those words to sink in and Kiriya blinks rapidly against any tears threatening to leak out. He's sick and overemotional, and his boyfriend-not-boyfriend-we-never-really-put-a-label-to-it is being way mushier than usual.

After a few labored breaths, Kiriya finally finds his words, trying to maintain eye contact as he says it.

"Thank you."

Graphite reaches down, smoothing some hair away from his face, sliding it down to cup his cheek again and leaning in to kiss his forehead. Kiriya's breath catches in his throat.

"What was that for?" He pants as Graphite sits back down.

"To help you get better." Graphite smirks.

"Is that prescription?"

Graphite shakes his head exasperatedly. "What, you want more?"

"Yeah, daily if possible." Kiriya grins.

"You know I was never trained to be that kind of medical staff. Plus, you seem better already. It's better not to overdo treatment, yeah?" Graphite pokes his cheek a few times to emphasize his point.

Kiriya shifts, trying to focus on how he feels. After taking stock of his ability to speak, albeit hoarsely, and the feeling of nausea from earlier nowhere to be found, he really believes Graphite has everything to do with it. He's still feverish and aching and feels overall weak, but it's something.

"Hey, never too late to start. C'mon, doc, help me feel better." Kiriya turns his head to the side, exposing his cheek, eyeing Graphite from his peripheral.

He almost feels the sigh reverberate through their joined hands and grins smugly as Graphite stands again. "Fine." He presses a kiss to the cheek. "Are you feeling any noticeable difference with this treatment?" He deadpans.

"I still—" Kiriya shakes his hand free from Graphite's hold to push his face away then turn himself into the sheets to cough.

He feels Graphite remove himself from his hand to hesitantly pat at his back as he continues to make shuddering, wet hacking noises. After a few uncomfortable moments, Kiriya slowly turns himself back over, a bit shaken. He relaxes onto the bed as Graphite stands over him again, brushing hair that fell into his face away.

"Were you gonna say you needed further treatment? Because you definitely need it."

Graphite leaned in again, kissing Kiriya all over. Just gentle touches of lips, lingering more whenever their mouths touched. Kiriya's hands reach up and tangle in Graphite's hair and his weird half jacket. With every touch, Kiriya notices he feels a little better. Like he can hear how hard Kiriya's thinking, Graphite makes a frustrated noise. Before Kiriya can ask what's wrong, Graphite goes straight for his weak spot, teasing his long, reptilian tongue up Kiriya's neck. He kisses along his jaw then starts to bite a mark in the soft skin behind his ear. Kiriya's brain completely drops any notes it was making about physical affection improving a sick person's condition and commits to enjoying the moment. The hand in Graphite's hair drags him up for a deep kiss before letting him continue his mission to try and touch every bit of Kiriya's exposed skin with his lips.

He giggles as Graphite takes a break to rub their cheeks together, practically purring. The soft rumble in his chest increases as Kiriya runs his fingers through his hair a few times. They pull away from each other, Graphite noting the brightness in Kiriya's eyes and how he looks much more alert than he did when he first woke up. He presses a few more kisses to Kiriya's temple before Kiriya grips his jacket tight, pulling him back.

"Wait."

Graphite pauses, curiosity and concern in his eyes. Kiriya untangles himself and scoots back as much as he can, gingerly turning over onto his side, then patting the bed next to him. Graphite eyes it hesitantly, but caves when he sees the soft smile Kiriya's giving him. He still tries to put up some token resistance and chuckles.

"Really? I don't want you puking all over me. You want our first time to be like that? And here, too? Everyone's upstairs worrying about you right now."

"Fuck, Graphite" Kiriya whines, patting the mattress more insistently. "I just wanna sleep with you here. Why're you always thinking with your lizard brain."

"Don't be an ass, it's the only one I got." He crawls into the bed and flops down next to Kiriya, who cuddles into him immediately.

Fortunately, Kiriya's on the smaller side, but it's still a tight squeeze. This bed looked like it could barely hold an adult human sometimes, so two adult-human-shaped Bugsters being comfortable was out of the question. With both of them on their sides like this, their backs are half on the bed frame. It's thankfully wide enough to support them both and still have wiggle room but it  _is_ made of hard, uncomfortable plastic, and Kiriya's pretty sure he hit a button he wasn't supposed to with his hip.

It takes some squirming and maneuvering, but they figure out a position that ensures they're mostly on the mattress. Graphite on his back with Kiriya practically on top of him, curled into his chest with their legs tangled. Laying a hand on his cheek, Graphite notes his skin is cooler. His fever feels like it broke, and he hums in relief. He tangles his hand in Kiriya's damp hair and idly plays with it until they both fall asleep.

 

...

 

Poppy finds them tangled up like that the next morning.

She tries to be quiet as she checks on the readings the computers took throughout the night. Noting them down on her clipboard then fiddling with the machines to get them back to their regular displays. Just as she's about to head out, Graphite stirs and wakes up, which in turn wakes Kiriya up.

"Goooood morning!" She chimes, getting tired groans in response.

"You're not doing the whole," Kiriya sleepily gestures towards her clothes. "Asuna thing?"

"Nope! You're both friends, so I figured it's okay for me to do my thing like this. By the way, Graphite! When did you come into the room? I found that Kiriya's vitals improved drastically around 10:46 last night, and I feel like you might've had something to do with that." She raises an eyebrow suggestively.

Kiriya sits up all the way, looking better than he has all week, while Graphite turns away, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Poppy allows herself a triumphant smirk before continuing. "I'm hypothesizing that Kiriya's self-inflicted sickness is just like dealing with game disease in a human! Kuroto never gave us any specifics on how we work, and honestly, I don't think he's entirely sure himself. But maybe emotional, mental and physical health is all rolled into one for us, so stress is just the overall defining factor in how well we function—"

Graphite sneezes suddenly, his body glitching and leaving parts of his armored form in the wake of the orange pixels scattering off his body. After a beat, Kiriya places a hand on his forehead.

"You... have a fever." He jumps off the bed, brows knitted together disbelievingly.

Poppy clutches her clipboard to herself as she stares, mouth agape. "Did you somehow spread it like a regular human illness?"

She flips to a new page and starts to furiously scribble notes down, looking between her clipboard and Graphite frequently. Kiriya moves to her side of the bed to readjust the machines to track Graphite's vitals. The bugster just sighs heavily and settles into the thin mattress, returning to his human form. The other two chatter on, becoming white noise to him as they turn a simple check-up into a whole slew of tests.

Eventually, Kiriya tires himself out again and curls up on the bed frame next to Graphite. It was nice to see him up and excited about something, but it's even nicer to have him close like this.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to do a repeat trial of your treatment plan tonight, Dr. Graphite." He chuckles. "You might be onto something here."

Graphite rolls his eyes and pulls Kiriya in close. " 'S about time you all realized how brilliant I am."


End file.
